In the final home matches of the spring, the Kentucky women?s soccer team continued to move forward in its preparations for the fall season. On Monday night, the Cats defeated Wolverhampton University from England by a final of 8-1. On Wednesday night, UK recorded a scoreless draw against the Under 15 Lexington FC Boys Select Team.
In the international friendly on Monday, sophomore forward Kate Rowlands led the Kentucky scoring effort with 2 goals and 1 assist. Freshmen Kate Hughes and Katie Rice each recorded a goal and an assist respectively. Other goal scorers for UK were sophomores Callie Lanphier and Caitlin Coughlin, and freshmen Rachel Ulrich and Ashley Price. Sophomores Megan Jones and Nathalie Bolder added assists, and freshman Kristin Kover led UK in assists with two on the night. Junior Anne Ogundele and freshman Cheryl Gilligan split the game in the net for the Cats. The Wolverhampton goal came off a free kick from 30 yards out in the second half to make the score 4-1 at that juncture.
The Wolverhampton men?s and women?s soccer teams visited UK for the week, playing many local teams in friendlies throughout their time on campus. The soccer student-athletes from both schools enjoyed the camaraderie between the squads while learning about each other?s cultures.
On Wednesday night, the Cats faced a game group of primarily high school freshman boys. Lexington FC is widely considered the top youth soccer club in the Lexington area. Kentucky was able to control the ball, and therefore the game, for most of the match. But UK was unable to break through the LFC ?bend but don?t break? defense for a goal. The Cats had their chances throughout, especially by recording 14 corner kicks to LFC?s 1. But LFC hung tough and began to create more scoring chances of their own late in the game with a series of dangerous plays, including a couple of breakaways. Gilligan was in the net late in the game for the Cats to diffuse those situations. Ogundele played the first 65 minutes in goal, and was never really threatened thanks to the freshman back line of Hughes, Kover, Tara Herold, and Laura Speer.
?It was great having both our English friends and our local youth on campus this week,? said head coach Warren Lipka. ?Playing them allowed us to continue to make strides in getting things sorted out both in the attack and defensively as a group of 11 players. I feel that for most of the match on Wednesday we were as organized defensively throughout our midfield and backline as I?ve seen in a while. The players are really starting to communicate well and work hard as an entire unit to prevent goals against and win the ball back. Illinois will be a great game to wrap up our spring. They will expose any remaining areas for us to focus on for next fall.?
The Cats conclude their spring season on Saturday, April 22, at the Crossroads of America Showcase in Carmel, Ind., as the featured college game versus the University of Illinois from the Big Ten Conference. Illinois was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last fall by Final Four participant Florida State. The year before, the Illini advanced to the Elite Eight.
The game will be played at Carmel High School?s Murray Stadium with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Carmel is a northern suburb of Indianapolis. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth under the age of 18.
